US and Gulf Partners Sanction Lebanon’s Hezbollah Leader, Deputy

Supporters of the Hezbollah terror group listen to leader Hassan Nasrallah in a televised speech during a commemoration of Hezbollah's Martyrs Day in Beirut's southern suburb on Nov. 11, 2008. (RAMZI HAIDAR/AFP/Getty Images)

May 16, 2018By Reuters

WASHINGTON–The United States and Gulf partners imposed additional sanctions on Lebanon’s Hezbollah leadership on Wednesday, targeting its top two officials, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Naim Qassem.

The U.S. Treasury Department said four other individuals were also sanctioned, as was the group ISIS in the Greater Sahara, which was designated as a foreign terrorist organisation.

It was the third round of sanctions announced by Washington since the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal last week.

Wednesday’s sanctions targeted members of the primary decision-making body of Hezbollah, the treasury said in a statement.

The move expands U.S. sanctions against Nasrallah, who was sanctioned by Washington in 1995 for threatening to disrupt the Middle East peace process and again in 2012 over Syria. It is, however, the first time that the U.S. Treasury has acted against Qassem, who is being listed for his ties to Hezbollah.

The measures were imposed jointly by Washington and its partners in the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center (TFTC), which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, it said.

The Gulf states targeted four of the movement’s committees and ordered individuals’ assets and bank accounts frozen.

A number of those targeted by the TFTC had been previously blacklisted by the United States.

Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Ali Thani, discussed Qatar’s efforts to counter terrorism financing, the State Department said.

Nasrallah last year dismissed the prospect of tougher U.S. sanctions against his group.

“The American administration, with all available and possible means, will not be able to damage the strength of the resistance,” Nasrallah said on Aug. 13 in a televised address to mark the anniversary of the end of Hezbollah’s 2006 war with Israel.

Shi’ite Hezbollah was formed to combat Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of Lebanon. It and its political allies made significant gains in Lebanon’s parliamentary election earlier this month, boosting an Iranian-backed movement fiercely opposed to Israel and underlining Tehran’s growing regional clout.

The Trump administration has sought in recent days to choke off funding for Iran’s overseas operations, including its backing for Hezbollah, in what it says are malign activities in the Middle East.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Iran’s central bank governor and an Iraq-based bank for funnelling millions of dollars on behalf of Iran’s elite revolutionary guards.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against six individuals and three companies it said were funnelling millions of dollars to the Revolutionary Guard’s external arm, Quds Force.

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